Over the years, various attempts have been made to provide various machines and devices or methods for assisting in the shearing of sheep, or even for the automatic shearing of sheep either mechanically or chemically.
However, various of these proposals and attempts have had serious drawbacks, and attention has been directed in various areas for holding the sheep in a suitable position and how to make the shearing more convenient for the operator and for the automatic shearing of sheep.
Thus in my earlier Australian Pat. No. 501,826 there is described a cradle including a frame supporting a plurality of generally horizontal rollers adapted to support a sheep lying on the rollers, and yoke means adapted to carry securing means to secure the front legs of a sheep, and further means to secure the rear legs of the sheep. In this way while the sheep is lying on the rollers, which rollers are formed parallel to each other in an arcuate manner, that the sheep can be rotated by rotating the rollers to present the varying portions of the sheep to the operator so that the operator shears that portion of the sheep which is most conveniently situated.
The cradle includes a framework supported on legs or the like, the framework supporting a series of rollers. Preferably, there are four rollers and extend the length of the frame, with the rollers being parallel to each other but arranged so that the central rollers are at a lower level than the outer-most rollers to thus form a depression. The rollers can be driven in the same direction of rotation, this preferably being by chains and sprockets, and can be driven by a foot lever pivoted on an axle, a ratchet being provided in the drive train so that by actuation of the pedal, the rollers are driven in the one direction.
Thus when a sheep is lying in the depression of the rollers, on actuation of the rollers the sheep will be rotated so that the shearing can be accomplished on that portion of the sheep which is most convenient to the operator.
Various means can be provided for holding the sheep, preferably by clamps attached to the legs to stretch the sheep and immobilize the sheep on the rollers.
It is with this form of shearing cradle that the present invention is concerned, and the invention is directed to providing on the cradle shearing or cutting means, so that as the sheep is rotated at least a portion of the sheep will be shorn by the shearing or cutting head incorporated with the cradle.